Coronavirus won’t stop city cleanup campaign

Finally there’s something that hasn’t been canceled, postponed or otherwise derailed by the coronavirus pandemic: an annual two-week cleanup campaign that has become a spring fixture in Mount Airy.

During that effort — which begins Monday — city sanitation crews will be picking up items normally not accepted, such as old couches, tires and more.

When issuing an update last Monday on how municipal services will operate in light of a shelter-in-place order implemented that day by the governor, City Manager Barbara Jones made special mention of those related to refuse collections.

“Our sanitation services will be provided following their regular schedule and spring cleanup will operate as advertised,” Jones assured.

The two-week campaign will run this Monday through Friday and from April 13-17.

The special service of picking up additional items besides normal household garbage is for residential properties only. These should be placed at the curb alongside trash carts on the regular collection day.

Materials to be included during the two-week campaign only are:

• Appliances;

• Tires (with or without rims);

• Building materials (generated by homeowners);

• Carpeting (any size);

• Large furniture pieces;

• Bicycles/tricycles;

• Loose leaves (normally picked up only from Oct. 1-Dec. 31);

• Limbs exceeding 3 inches in diameter (which must be separated from smaller-diameter brush);

• Old gas grills (without cylinders).

Examples of non-conventional objects encountered over the years include a cast-iron bathtub, exercise equipment, assorted iron and steel pipes, a truck bed liner and more.

Because of environmental regulations, city crews may not collect paint, pesticides, herbicides, solvents or chemicals. Such substances are accepted during an annual collection event conducted by the Surry County sanitation unit, usually in the fall at Veterans Memorial Park in Mount Airy.

Anyone with questions about the spring cleanup may call the Public Works Department at 786-3580.

Coronavirus impact?

Mount Airy Sanitation Supervisor Russell Jarrell says the coronavirus might lead to larger amounts of old appliances and other items being collected with more people at home and having extra time for garage clean-out and similar projects.

“I’m thinking it will be, but who knows?” he replied in reference to question marks that face each spring cleanup which can differ from year to year for a variety of reasons.

Jarrell added that one precaution will be in place in response to the pandemic which also has been employed by other communities around the nation, minimizing worker exposure to items possibly contaminated by the coronavirus.

He said this will involve crews trying to pick up all piles of materials using the city’s knuckle boom truck so workers will not have “to handle it so much.” The knuckle boom, or grapple, equipment typically is deployed in gathering large piles of brush.

The city manager also addressed the safety issue in her update on operations for the coronavirus crisis.

“We encourage all citizens to follow the guidelines for garbage service and place items in bags before putting it in the garbage container and to follow recommendations regarding spring cleanup as well,” Jones said.

In 2019, the cleanup campaign resulted in about 275 tons of trash and brush collected, along with nearly 20 tons of leaves.

Also last year, the “take” included 185 mattresses, 171 television sets/computers, 400 tires (60 on rims), 16 appliances, 15 bicycles and 13 gas grills, among other items.

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Mount Airy sanitation worker David McBride stands by as brush is loaded onto the city’s grapple, or knuckle boom, truck under the control of fellow employee Danny Draughn during a past cleanup effort.

https://www.mtairynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/web1_Brush-this-2.jpgMount Airy sanitation worker David McBride stands by as brush is loaded onto the city’s grapple, or knuckle boom, truck under the control of fellow employee Danny Draughn during a past cleanup effort.

Source

Source: https://www.mtairynews.com